In late September, a hot spell sent Kevin Harvey and his crew scrambling to pick his prized pinot noir grapes before they got overripe.

The owner of Rhys Vineyards would have preferred a slower-paced harvest, so he could enjoy his winery’s new digs — cool caves cut deep into the mountains off Skyline Boulevard on the edge of San Mateo County. But weather dictates the game plan in winemaking, so Harvey jumped on picking his grapes before they got too sweet.

This is a momentous year for the winery. Not only have the caves just opened, but for the first time, all six local Rhys vineyards are mature and ready for a full harvest.

“It’s been an exciting and terrifying year,” said the bright-eyed and youthful Harvey, standing in stunning round caves that rise more than 30 feet high and smell of pungent grapes and wine.

After a cool summer, some short heat waves and a little rain, Harvey’s pinot noir grape harvest is 20 percent smaller than expected. But he’s confident his 2010 vintage wines will be stellar.

Recently, his wine was named the top pinot noir in the state by two sources, one considered the gold standard for that variety, a group called Burghound.com.

“Rhys pinot noirs are unique and original,” said Allen Meadows, founder of the site, which reviews pinot noir and Burgundy wine. “They are unlike any other pinots crafted in California, and are doing better than anyone else.”

Harvey, who was born in Sunnyvale and grew up in Texas, is a successful venture capitalist who invested early in high-tech giants Twitter and eBay. He also helped fund the tech firm MySQL, which was sold for $1.2 billion to Sun Microsystems. So it’s no surprise Harvey has spared no cost on his winery.

He started his wine project in 1995 and has produced wine the past four years. But it hasn’t been a cakewalk. During his first harvest in 2004, there were 10 straight days of 100-degree heat, which hurt the wine quality. The next year, his grapes were completely wiped out by frost.

The winery started hitting its stride between 2006 and 2008. Harvey’s mission now is to make a great pinot noir, which is the closest thing to his favorite Burgundy wine. His love for wine from the famous region of France got him into winemaking.

“The project is finally coming to fruition,” Harvey said.

Five years ago, he had the idea of creating a winery in caves in the hills off Skyline Boulevard just south of the San Mateo County line.

“This area is the holy land for the cool-weather varieties I’m growing,” he said of the location, which has cool sea breezes from the ocean, some fog, and a rocky soil that makes wine grapes both work hard and thrive.

Harvey, 45, insists the Santa Cruz Mountains Appellation, which includes San Mateo County, is the best region outside of France to make Burgundy-style wine. He ought to know. He’s traveled to the Burgundy region 15 times, talking to winemakers, vintners and other experts about the best growing practices, weather conditions and soil makeup.

He insists he’s not trying to make Burgundy wine, which is made from pinot noir grapes. He just wants to make wine that exudes the personality of the local soil and climate.

Harvey has meticulously accumulated 42 acres of vineyards in the hills around the ridge along Skyline Boulevard, including 39 acres in San Mateo County. The two wines recognized as being the state’s best are made from grapes that come from San Mateo County.

Burghound.com named the Rhys’ “Alpine Vineyard” 2008 as the best pinot noir in the state. The International Wine Cellar named Rhys’ “Horseshoe Vineyard” 2008 the best in the state.

“Rhys is breaking new ground in its own way for the Santa Cruz Mountains,” said John Akeley, wine buyer at Roberts Market in Woodside. “They’re breaking ground that hasn’t been broken for 20-30 years, when Ridge Winery was breaking new ground for quality.”

Harvey first began making wine in the garage of his Woodside home. He grew grapes in his backyard vineyard and experimented with winemaking. He’s hired a winemaker since then.

“If we can make a wine that shows a distinctive, unique personality — the personality of the soil and climate here — that’s what our customers want,” Harvey said. “They’re wine geeks.”

He sells most of his wine online to sommeliers, serious wine students, pinot noir fanatics and some restaurants. Most of his customers are on a private mailing list. The wine’s not cheap — it sells for around $59 a bottle.

“He’s doing everything first-class, and it affects the wine quality,” said Brian Caselden, winemaker for Woodside Vineyards in Menlo Park. “The wine has a sense of place, and it will really help with the reputation of the Santa Cruz Mountains wine.”

Caselden is understandably partial to local wine. He, too, thinks the local terrain makes wine as good as any produced in Napa Valley. But most Santa Cruz Mountains wineries produce small amounts — maybe 2,000 to 10,000 cases annually — so they remain under the radar, he said.

Caselden said he hopes Rhys’ growing reputation might change that for the more than 100 Santa Cruz Mountains wineries, nearly a dozen of which are in San Mateo County. Some of the better-known wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains include David Bruce, Ridge, Cinnabar and Thomas Fogarty.

Rhys produces 10,000 cases a year and has one of the biggest pinot noir vineyards in the area. Rhys also has 30 acres in the Anderson Valley.

“We’re staying high-end. That’s what interests me,” said Harvey, who still counts high-tech investing as his breadwinner. “I’m not attracted to this as a business — we’re trying to push the envelope of quality.”

He would not disclose how much he spent to build the caves and a stately hillside castle that overlooks Silicon Valley. The European-style, gray-rock castle adjacent to the caves will eventually serve as a tasting room and the winery’s offices.

In the meantime, there’s a few more grapes to be picked — the syrah variety — so Harvey is keeping his finger to the wind for any changes in the weather.

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